Daggers lose out on cash windfall

Dagenham and Redbridge were today counting the estimated £140,000 cost of their FA Cup third-round replay against Charlton being postponed because of a frozen pitch.

Referee Alan Wiley called off the scheduled tie at the Conference side's Victoria Road ground at about 4.15pm yesterday after a pitch inspection.

The match will now be played along with the FA Cup fourth round matches on Saturday 27 January at 3pm.

It was felt the corners of the pitch, as well as a strip of turf about eight feet wide and running the length of the pitch in the shadow of one stand, were frozen hard and could endanger players' safety.

The tie would have been shown live on Sky Sports, with the club pocketing a set fee of £150,000 from the Football Association's TV deal coffers.

Aston Villa benefited instead as their tie against Newcastle was made the live replacement.

Dagenham boss Garry Hill said: "It would be bad enough for any club to lose out on that sort of money, but for a non-League club who have paid out to organise the game in the first place then it's even worse.

"I realise the referee had to look out for the safety of the players. We were just stunned when we heard the news. We will just have to get on with it and be positive. We're not out of the cup yet."

Other earlier dates for the rescheduled replay were impossible as Charlton are due to appear live on Sky against West Ham next Monday.

It means the rearranged game cannot be shown live and Dagenham will instead receive a set fee of just under £20,000 for extended highlights being broadcast on Sky early that Saturday evening.

Talks are continuing as to whether Dagenham will still have live radio coverage, while there is also the £7,000 cost of putting up a temporary stand behind one of the goals to house the 75-strong media.

Dagenham secretary Derek Almond said: "We did everything we could to make the pitch playable, with hot-air blowers and overnight covers, but the weather just got the better of us."

Tottenham, who will meet the winners, will have a free weekend with a date for their fourth-round tie yet to be arranged.